54: Money is important

"warriors blood? heros blood?"

Renn looked at the last two potions.

"These two potions are both designed to enhance a warrior's physique. They can provide a one-time body strengthening for Professionals below the Silver Rank. Since they are low-level potions, they will have no effect on anyone above the Silver Rank."

"warriors blood is the entry-level version, with low cost and slightly weaker effects, suitable for Black Iron Rank warriors. heros blood is the enhanced version, with higher production costs but much stronger effects, suitable for Bronze Rank warriors."

"Just like the two versions of the blood of the magic wolf from before, one is an entry-level version and the other is a high-end version."

Renn rubbed his chin as he pondered over these four potions.

"So the blood of the magic wolf has also been divided into two versions, entry-level and high-end. Do these two potions have new names?"

"No, I haven't named them!"

"Then the entry-level version of the blood of the magic wolf will be called blood of the wild wolf from now on, and the high-end version will still be called blood of the magic wolf."

"No problem!" Cecilia didn't care about the names.

"As for the blood of the wild wolf and the blood of the magic wolf, their effects have already been tested on subjects, so there are no issues."

"As for the warriors blood and heros blood, since we need people to test them, we don't know the specific effects yet."

Cecilia had previously asked Renn for a few wild wolves as test subjects, so Renn had sent men to the wilderness to catch several Wasteland Wolves for her.

Ordinary Wasteland Wolves like these weren't rare in the wilderness, and catching them wasn't much trouble.

"Of those three Wasteland Wolves, only two are left. One of them burst and died from the powerful medicinal energy while testing the blood of the magic wolf."

"Given the potency of the blood of the magic wolf, I suggest using blood of the wild wolf first on ordinary wolves to let them promote into magic wolves. The blood of the magic wolf should only be used on magic beasts, not ordinary animals."

"The same logic applies to the heros blood. Ordinary warriors cannot directly use the heros blood potion; it can only be used by Professionals. Ordinary people likely wouldn't survive the powerful medicinal strength of the heros blood."

Listening to Cecilia's introduction, Renn committed the details of the four potions to memory.

"I understand!"

"I'll take these four bottles of potion for now."

"Cecilia, I'd like to ask you to refine more blood of the wild wolf for me. I won't ask you to do it for free; this is your compensation."

Renn spoke as he pulled two Magic Stones from his robe and handed them to Cecilia.

"Brother Renn, I don't need these. Refining potions isn't much trouble, and I'd just be idle otherwise."

"No, business is business. Take them, otherwise I'll feel too embarrassed to ask for your help in the future."

Master Kapdo, who was standing nearby, walked over and took the two Magic Stones Renn had offered.

"Two white magic stones are enough for little Cecilia's labor fee. I'll take them on her behalf."

"Grandpa!"

Cecilia stared at her grandfather with wide eyes.

"We mages believe in fairness in our work; there must be a return for every effort."

Cecilia turned her head away, not wanting to hear Kapdo's nagging.

"Hmph!"

"I'm ignoring you!"

Afterward, Cecilia said to Renn, "Brother Renn, there isn't much magic wolf grass left in your Medicinal Herb Field. I estimate it will be used up after refining about ten more portions of blood of the wild wolf. If you want to refine more after that, we'll need to find more magic wolf grass."

"I'll find a way to deal with the magic plant situation. For now, just refine as much as you can!"

"Thank you for your hard work, Cecilia, Master Kapdo."

Renn chatted with Cecilia and Kapdo about magical knowledge for a while before leaving with the four bottles of potion.

Cecilia was still a bit upset about her grandfather taking the two Magic Stones from Renn.

"Grandpa, why did you take Brother Renn's Magic Stones?"

"What's wrong with your grandfather taking a little compensation for the hard work of upgrading potion recipes for him?"

"Brother Renn showed me his family's potion recipe because he trusts me. I also promised to upgrade the recipe, so why take compensation!"

"That family recipe of his didn't even count as a real potion recipe. Besides, I gave him back four recipes for the one he gave me. He's made a massive profit; taking two Magic Stones is letting him off cheap."

Kapdo was also a bit annoyed that his precious granddaughter was speaking up for an outsider, feeling as if he were the outsider now.

"It's not like we're short of those two Magic Stones."

"What do you mean we aren't short? Little Cecilia, as a mage, you must remember one thing: mages are always short of money!"

"Always!"

"Your grandfather still doesn't have a Mage Tower of his own yet."

"Don't you want a Mage Tower of your own in the future?"

"All of that requires money. We are very short of money, very!"

"Money is very important. Our books, experimental materials, and the construction of a Mage Tower all require money to solve. Without money, you cannot become an excellent mage."

Kapdo lectured Cecilia on the importance of money.

Meanwhile, Renn had already arrived at the Wolfs Nest with the potions.

In the northwest corner of Red River Fortress, there was an independent, specialized building: the Wolfs Nest.

This was originally the place where the Derrick Family raised magic wolves. After the original magic wolves all died in battle, the place became empty.

Now, there were two new members here.

Two grey Wasteland Wolves were resting inside the Wolfs Nest. Upon hearing Renn's arrival, they immediately got up and rushed out, crouching and baring their teeth at him in a combat stance.

Renn didn't coddle them. Powerful Dou Qi surged out, and a strong pressure descended upon the two magic wolves that had just broken through to the Black Iron Rank.

"Submit to me (Wolf Language)."

Renn used the Derrick Family's Secret Method to try and tame these two magic wolves.

The two magic wolves still wanted to resist, but as Renn stepped closer, the Dou Qi fluctuations rapidly expanded and the pressure intensified, causing their resistance to dwindle.

By the time Renn reached their side, the two magic wolves had completely abandoned their resistance and chosen to submit, lying on their backs at Renn's feet and exposing their bellies.

Renn stroked the soft fur on the two magic wolves' bellies.

"You two stay here for now. I'll give you some work to do after a while."

The two magic wolves let out low growls in response to Renn.

After taming the two magic wolves, Renn returned to the castle and went to the room assigned to Xiao Bai on one side of the hall.

Inside the stone room, Xiao Bai was lying on a stone bed, snoring loudly. His size had increased by a full circle, his fur had become even whiter, and the mana within his body was faintly visible. He had clearly broken through to the Black Iron Rank and become a magic wolf.

After Renn brought back the Shadow Leopard's flesh, he had fed the Shadow Leopard's internal organs and some scraps to Xiao Bai.

After devouring a large amount of Shadow Leopard meat, Xiao Bai began sleeping every day to digest the energy contained within the flesh. He had broken through to the Black Iron Rank after sleeping for three days.

After that, he continued to wake up to eat Shadow Leopard meat and then go back to sleep, right up until now.

He had eaten all the Shadow Leopard's organs and scraps, and his strength had broken through to the Black Iron Middle-stage.

Once Xiao Bai broke through to become a magic beast, Renn gave him a formal name: Reck.

Prying open Reck's large mouth, Renn poured the blood of the wild wolf into it.

"Try this first. Once you've digested it, I'll give you a taste of something even stronger."

"Lucky you, eating and sleeping all day long!"

Renn gave Reck an annoyed pat before leaving.

The dazed Reck felt a familiar aura beside him, felt something delicious being poured into his mouth, and then was patted before the aura left.

Reck shrugged his body, adjusted to a more comfortable position, and went back to his deep slumber.

"The energy contained in the Shadow Leopard's flesh is truly significant, allowing Reck to reach the Black Iron Middle-stage. With these two bottles of potion, it's very likely that Reck will break through to the Bronze Rank."

"Magic beasts are so lucky; they don't need to cultivate. They just need to eat and sleep to level up."

Renn was quite envious of Reck. He had to cultivate hard every day to increase his strength bit by bit, whereas magic beasts didn't need any of that. They didn't cultivate at all; they just needed to eat well and survive to grow stronger.

"Natural selection; everyone has their own way of survival!"